William a



(No Model.) W. A. DOUGLASS.

CHICKEN 0001. No. 597,214. Patented Jan. 11, 1898.

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UNITED STATES PATENT @rrrcn.

WlLLlAlil A. DOUGLASS, OF VENICE, MISSOURI CHICKEN-COOP.

SPEGIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 597,214, dated January 1 1, 1898.

Application filed August 8, 1897. Berlal No. 646,989. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM A. DOUGLASS, residing at Venice, in the county of Callaway and State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Chicken-Coop, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to chicken-coops, and particularly to coops for the protection of a hen and young chicks and to coops in which to feed chickens.

The object of my invention is to produce coops for the before-mention ed and analogous purposes made of woven or interlaced or intertwisted wire-netting.

With this object in view my invention consists in a woven, interlaced, or intertwisted sheet of spring-wires, composed of longitudinal and transverse wires, the longitudinal wires being formed with eyes at one end, the opposite ends being extended beyond the end of the sheet, such extension being adapted to pass through theeyes of the other ends and provided with hooks to engage around the wires themselves at a slight distance from the meeting ends.

My invention further consists in the improved construction, arrangement, and combination of parts hereinafter fully described, and afterward specifically pointed out in the claims.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my invention most nearly appertains to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe its construction and operation, having reference to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a perspective view illustrating my improved coop in position for practical use. Fig. 2 is a view in elevation of the improved wire sheet of which my coop is made, showing the fastening means. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view showingthe manner of fastening the ends of the horizontal wiresof the wire sheet.

Like letters of reference mark the same parts wherever they occur in the different ures of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings by-letters, A, B, and 0 indicate the main horizontal wires of my completed coop, or the longitudinal wires of the sheet of which my coop is tobe made before bending and securing the ends. The wire A at the bottom of the coop and the wire B at the mid-height and the wire 0 at the top are much heavier and thicker than the rest of the wires of which the coop is composed, and they extend from one end of the sheet, where they are provided with eyes D, D, and D to and beyond the other end of the sheet, they being provided on these extended ends with laterally-turned hooks E, E, and E These wires are connected at suitable inter vals by upright wires F, which may be doubled and twisted'around the wires A, B, and G, or may be single wires twisted around them, or may be interwoven with the wires A, B, and O and two series of longitudinal wires G and H, the series G being located between the wires A and B and parallel therewith and the series 11 being located between the wires B and (J and parallel therewith, the wires of the series H being farther apart than the wires of the series G, whereby when the sheet is bent into the coop form, as shown in Fig. 1, it becomes a reversible coop, in which the meshes below the central wire 13 will be of a certain size when the wire A constitutes the base or bottom of the coop, but will be of a different size to accommodate different sizes of fowls when the coop is reversed and the wire 0 forms the base-wire.

The wires A, B, and G will be what is known as spring-wire, so that when not in use as a coop they will lie fiat and may be hung up against the wall of the chicken-house, barn, or other storage-department and take up but very little room. The wires F, G, and H will be preferably of spring-wire, but this is not absolutely necessary.

In order to form a coop of the sheet before described, it is bent into the form of a cylinder, as shown in Fig. 1, the hooks E, E, and E 'being passed through the eyes D, D, and D and the projecting portions of the wires A, B, and O, as shown on the right hand in Fig. 3, being also passed through said eyes until the eyes D, D, and D reach the edge of the sheet, when the hooks E, E, and E will he slipped around the wires on which each hook is formed at about the points I, I, and I in Fig. 3, and as shown applied in Figs. 1 and 3.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that I have provided for poultry fanciers and others who raise chickens means whereby any number of coops may be formed at a moments notice, and so formed that when no longer required for use they can be immediately transformed into fiat sheets which may be stored away out of the weather in a very small space. The construction is so simple that it can be readily made by unskilled labor and it is so cheap as to bring it Within the reach of every one Who may desire to us it.

While I have illustrated and described the best means now known to me for carrying out my invention, I wish it to be understood that I do not restrict myself to the exact details of construction shown and described, but hold that any slight changes or variations, such as might suggest themselves to the ordinary mechanic, will clearly fall within the limit and scope of my invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. A cylindrical coop consisting of woven, interlaced or intertwisted spring-wires and provided with heavier longitudinal wires at the bottom, the mid-length and the top thereof, said heavier or frame Wires being provided with eyes at one end of the sheet, of which the coop is formed, and having their opposite ends projecting beyond the sheet and formed into laterally-turned hooks, substantially as described.

2., As a new article of manufacture awoven, interlaced or intertwisted sheet of springwire composed of longitudinal and transverse Wires, part of the longitudinal wires being formed with eyes at one end of the sheet, their opposite ends being extended beyond the end of the sheet and provided at their extremities with laterally-formed hooks, substantially as described.

3. A sheet of Woven, interlaced or intertwisted wires provided with three heavier frame-wires, A, B and 0, extending longitudinally at the bottom, mid-length and top of the sheet respectively, said frame-wires be ing provided at one end with the eyes I), D and D and having their opposite ends extended beyond the end of the sheet and provided with laterally-bent hooks, E, E and E substantially as described.

WILLIAM A. DOUGLASS.

\Vitnesses STEPHEN BERTELs, J. N. MCGINNIs. 

